Murray bombs out

12/01/2010

Andrew Murray has dropped out of the top four in the world rankings this morning after he decided not to defend his Qatar Open title. It’s the first time the Scot has been out of the top four since August 2008, and he has been overtaken by Juan Martin Del Potro after giving up the 250 ranking points playing in the event would have given him.

Instead Murray has chosen to play in the Hopman Cup with Laura Robson: he considers it better preparation for next week’s Australian Open, in which he will be seeded fifth. This means that he could face any one of the top four in the quarter-finals, but he doesn’t care too much about that.

‘I really don't think the seedings make any difference,’ he said. ‘If you get to the quarter-finals, you're going to have to beat the best players anyway.

‘Maybe it's one more than normal but you bank on the top four seeds getting to the last eight. There are always surprises and I need to make sure I get there myself first.’